(Clockwise from top left) Gov. Pat Quinn said he will seek re-election in 2014, State Sen. Bill Brady said he will make a formal announcement in June, Attorney General Lisa Madigan said he hasn't made up her mind, and House Speaker Mike Madigan has said Quinn can get re-elected. (WJBC file photos)

By Dave Dahl

SPRINGFIELD - It’s never too early to talk about the next election in Illinois, and the 2014 gubernatorial primary is just a year away.

Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan (D-Chicago), who is chairman of the Democratic Party of Illinois and the father of Attorney General Lisa Madigan, was asked about Gov. Quinn's re-election chances.

“Do I think that Quinn can get re-elected? The answer is yes. You might want to put that question to Bill Brady,” Madigan said, referring to the state senator from Bloomington, whom Quinn defeated in the 2010 general election.

That assumes Quinn can survive a primary.

“Which he did last time,” Madigan reminds us. “I wouldn’t count him out,” he concludes.

That 2010 primary, by the way, did not include Lisa Madigan, who has been considering a run against Quinn.

“I have not made up my mind,” she said.

As for Quinn, his first public appearance after his budget speech was seven days later, at an IBEW conference in Springfield. A trade union might be a more friendly audience than, say, AFSCME, the public-workers’ union which has had contentious relations with Quinn, leading up to a tentative agreement announced last week. “We can, I think, get to a good place for everybody,” Quinn said.

When reminded Speaker Madigan has voiced doubts that the state can afford the AFSCME contract terms without laying people off, Quinn walked away.